ADVISORY

Experts can discuss historic SpaceShipOne

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—The University of Michigan has experts available to comment
on the historic SpaceShipOne privately manned space flight, scheduled to launch
June 21.

They are:

• Peretz Friedmann, director of the FXB Center for
Rotary and Fixed Wing Design and co-director of the Space Technology Institute.
Friedmann's research straddles the space industry and the airplane industry.
He can discuss the technical aspects of building a vessel like SpaceShipOne
and how close scientists are to making space flight more accessible to the
general public. He can be reached at (734) 763-2354 or peretzf@umich.edu.
For more on Friedmann, visit: http://www.engin.umich.edu/dept/aero/people/faculty/friedmann/index.html

• James Driscoll, interim chair of the Department of Aerospace
Engineering. Driscoll's research specialties include supersonic combustion
with scramjets in rocket-based combined cycles, nitric oxide formation in jet
engine combustors, and studies of turbulent combustion. Driscoll can discuss
the likelihood of widely available private space flight in the future, and
what research projects are underway at U-M to help make space travel accessible
to the public. He can be reached at (734) 936-0101 or jamesfd@engin.umich.edu.
For more information, visit: http://www.engin.umich.edu/dept/aero/people/faculty/driscoll/index.html

SpaceShipOne's goal is to reach 62 miles (100 kilometers) in altitude, which
is considered the boundary of outer space. That height is also the benchmark
for the $10 million Ansari X Prize competition to see which team can reach
that height first. The June 21 mission is backed by billionaire Paul Allen,
co-founder of Microsoft, and the craft was designed by aviation designer Burt
Rutan.